Manchester, New Hampshire, USA – Allegro MicroSystems (Allegro), a global leader in power and sensing solutions for motion control and energy-efficient systems, announces the launch of the world’s first integrated power loss brake (PLB) Three-phase BLDC driver IC A89331, this code-free, sine wave sensorless fan driver is designed to improve energy efficiency and reduce energy consumption and data center costs. The new PLB capabilities also improve data center security and reduce bill of materials (BoM) costs.

Andy Wang, Product Line Engineering Manager at Allegro, explained: “We launched our new product, the A89331, in direct response to the trends and needs of the server market. The A89331 is the smallest and highest performance cooling fan designed for the server and data center cooling fan market. Excellent solution.”

Building a more green and energy-efficient data center

When a server fan fails or is damaged, the backflow of air causes it to spin in the opposite direction, and other fans must work harder to compensate for the resulting reverse airflow, increasing system power consumption.

The A89331 incorporates a unique integrated power-off braking feature that applies a brake to a fan that is not operating properly, avoiding excess power consumption while increasing thermal efficiency, resulting in lower energy consumption and data center costs.

A more simplified solution

In order to prevent damage to the fan from reverse rotation, the traditional solution is to add external circuits to achieve fan braking, but this solution is not suitable for 1U fan systems. The traditional solution not only leads to an increase in the cost of BoM and a decrease in efficiency, but also requires software development, which delays the time to market of products.

The A89331 is the world’s first and only solution that can simultaneously implement three-phase BLDC drive and power-off braking in a 1U fan. In addition, Allegro’s proprietary no-code driver eliminates the need for software development and verification, and benefits include higher performance, lower BoM costs, smaller PCB area, lower development costs and shorter time-to-market.

Enabling a more secure data center

The A89331’s integrated power-off braking function also stops the fans immediately when the system loses power, avoiding possible power damage.

Andy Wang added, “Among all these advantages of the A89331, the most important is its ability to make server fans run at higher speeds and improve speed control accuracy. The A89331 integrates all the functions customers need and fits the market well. requirements, and help customers improve product performance and operational efficiency.”

The A89331 provides trapezoidal drive for higher rotational speed (RPM) and is able to improve speed accuracy to ±1.5% at 25°C.

The A89331 has a maximum input voltage rating of 18V, an operating temperature range of -40 to 105°C, and is available in a 28-pin 5mm x 5mm QFN package (suffix ES) with an exposed thermal pad, or a 20-pin with an exposed thermal pad TSSOP package (suffix LP). These products are lead free and feature 100% matte tin leadframe plating.

Allegro has samples of the A89331 available upon request and can be requested now.

For pricing and other information on the A89331, please contact Allegro Shanghai or your local office.

Link to this article：Allegro’s New Green BLDC Fan Drivers Reduce Data Center Energy Consumption and Improve Safety